He's also been benched for other games, over 150 games it evens itself out

This season he played at home v Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal. If you look at our record against the big "5" (i.e. Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City) in our last 3 seasons in the premier league it is also interesting in that over the 3 seasons our record against that group is:

P10 W4 D3 L8

Actually not unrespectable given the opposition. Guess which player started in all 4 of those wins and 2 of the 3 draws? The only time we've got a point against any of them when he did not start was away at Liverpool this season when we got a draw. This to me suggests that the theory that we should not play Wes against these teams is fundamentally misconceived.

I also hardly think Stoke away in seasons gone by was a fixture we had no chance of winning. Indeed I remember at least one horrific away performance at Stoke where Wes's influence would have been most welcome.

Posted By: Jim, Apr 20, 12:27:25